Lowell, Arkansas
2026
What Lutherans Believe
About Christian Baptism
Baptism is a “Means of Grace” and a “Sacrament”
“The Means of Grace?” = The “Means of Grace” are the “tools” or “ways” through which God the Holy Spirit brings us to faith and subsequently keeps us in the faith.
He offers and brings us the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the guarantee of salvation through these 3 “means”: The Written Word (Bible); The Sacrament of Baptism; and The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
What is a “Sacrament?” ……(as we define it in our church)
It is a sacred act….. 1. Instituted (begun) by Christ
2. Connected with God’s Word and offering forgiveness of sins
3. and Has earthly/physical elements [in Baptism……..the water; in the Lord’s Supper…the bread and wine]
The Institution of Baptism
Nearly every church body recognizes the importance of baptism. After all, in Matthew 28 Jesus commanded us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
But in most the need for infant baptism is not clearly seen because it is falsely presumed that infants and small children are not actually sinners. They further assume that such children are not held “accountable” for their sins until the vague time when they reach an age of “discernment” (where they consciously understand their sin, their need for a Savior, and personally desire that Savior as their own). Unfortunately, that teaching is built on the use of human reason rather than upon what Scripture teaches…….simply put, the position they generally take is “it’s got to make ‘sense’ before I’ll believe it, and — to me — it doesn’t make sense that babies can believe.” In addition, they teach that baptism cannot be administered unless and until the recipient “personally and publicly desires” to be baptized……a desire that a little child/infant cannot express.
But what does the Bible say………
First, that BABIES/CHILDREN/ADULTS ARE SINNERS
Romans 6:23 ….”The wages of sin is death.” (Do babies die? sure they do, even in the womb. Had Adam and Eve NOT sinned, death would not have entered the world. Death is an evidence of sin’s existence. Babies die, because babies are sinners………by the way, if he comes back and says “Well Jesus died and He wasn’t a sinner.” You can respond by saying, “Yes, you’re right, He wasn’t a sinner, and yet He was made responsible for our sins. Isaiah 53:6: and II Corinthians 5;19-21)
Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (David is writing under inspiration…..therefore these are GOD’S words!….acknowledges that he was not only sinful “at birth,” he was a sinner from the time when he was conceived. )
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (The “all” includes everyone…..man, woman, child, adults, infants)
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned.” (“All men” again is a reference to all humans….to everyone, regardless of age…..the Greek word (anthropos……we get our word “anthropology” from it) refers to “mankind”/”humankind” NOT to males)
John 3:5,6 “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” …..all people, including babies, need to be “born again”……clearly the statement “of water and the spirit” is a reference to baptism [Titus 3:5,6]……notice two other things here. First the preposition “of” and then the conjunction “and.” In the Greek there is only one preposition, upon which both words “water” and “spirit” depend. The conjunction “and” ties together the two words “water” and “spirit” ….the sense here is that being born again of water and the spirit is one action/activity that occurs at the same time. [Some teachers/ministers incorrectly claim that Jesus is saying here that a man is first born of water (physical birth…..mom’s water breaking) and then later on is born of the spirit (at the time of his/her conversion)]
Second, that BAPTISM IS FOR ALL PEOPLE, INCLUDING CHILDREN
Matthew 28:19 “Go and make disciples of all nations.” (Babies are certainly part of “all nations”…..When does a baby become a citizen of this country? Answer # 1…..”Surely at the time the child is born!” [for example, many “aliens” come to this country to have their children born here; at which point the children automatically are considered US citizens.] Answer #2…..Even before they’re born [consider this: someone attacks a pregnant woman, who loses the unborn child in the attack, though mom survives. What criminal charges are filed? Among others, the charge of “manslaughter” because a PERSON has lost his/her life. …….By the way, isn’t it almost schizophrenic that our country affords protection to a pre-born child as a person, yet at the same time calls the child/person a “fetus” and nonhuman so that it can be aborted!])
Galatians 3:26 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.: (All people need to become “sons” [children] of God……that, again, includes children/infants)
Acts 2:38-39 “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (The promise for you and your children is the promise of forgiveness, a forgiveness which is connected to “baptism”)
Third, BAPTISM IS NOT AN ORDINARY CEREMONY…..(in contrast to the teaching found in many churches that the person being baptized is the one “carrying out” the most important part of baptism…namely, “giving testimony of ones faith”……we believe – and Scripture teaches – that the greater role, by far, in Baptism is the one carried out by the LORD.)
Ephesians 5:25,26 “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing with water through the Word.” (The “washing with water through the Word” is a clear reference to Baptism….which “cleanses” us of our sin.)
I Peter 3:21 b “Baptism now saves you….” (The context speaks of the waters of the flood, upon which Noah and his family were saved as they rode in the ark. Those floodwaters are symbolic of the water in baptism which — when connected to the Word of God through which the Holy Spirit works — “saves” the recipient. Salvation, therefore, is a MAJOR part of baptism.)
Titus 3:5,6 “He [God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. H e saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (The “washing of regeneration” is obviously a clear reference to “baptism”; Notice here that the Holy Spirit is significantly involved in this washing, since through it He “renews” [another way of saying “born again”] us by imparting faith into a person’s heart….in the case of an infant/child…..or strengthening existing faith…..in the case of an adult)
Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Salvation, again, is connected to the act of baptism…….the fact that “whoever believes” is recorded before “and is baptized” does not mandate, as certain churches suggest, that a person cannot be baptized unless/until he/she publicly declares his/her faith. Consider this question…..”to whom is Mark writing?” The answer? “To adults.” And as with most of the incidents in the NT when the act of baptism is described, the majority of people being baptized — or in some cases, the individual being baptized — will be adults/an adult. After all, even in our churches today, the majority of members are adults.)
Acts 22:16 “And now what are waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.” (Baptism “washes away sin”……again, the cleansing element of baptism as a means [NOT the only means, but one of His means along with the preaching of the Word and the Lord’s Supper] of conveying God’s forgiveness to people)
Acts 2:38 ……see above….. (We looked at this before…..the two elements to consider now are: 1) baptism conveys God’s forgiveness to the recipient; and 2) through baptism the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to people)
Finally, TO “BAPTIZE” MEANS TO “APPLY WATER”….AND TO DO SO AN ANY MANNER (including sprinkling and pouring…..it does not necessarily mean “to immerse”)
Mark 7:3,4.”(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the traditions of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)
…..Throughout this text the word “wash” is used. In the Greek language that word is “baptizein” (some say “baptizo”). In either case, it is the word for “baptize”…..pay special attention to the NIV’s footnote, which refers to “cups, pitchers, kettles AND dining couches” being washed. Those couches would be similar to one a psychiatrist might stereotypically use in his office, upon which the patient is supposed to rest while in counseling. People in the days when Jesus walked on earth actually ate at formal dinners from such devices. The point for us is this: do you immerse a “couch” or do you apply water to it when you wash/clean it? In a similar way, when we wash our cars we surely don’t immerse them! And when the “reformed” churches say that in the accounts of Jesus’ baptism in Mark and Matthew, where it says Jesus “came up out of the water” ….that must mean he was “under the water” first before he came “up” and then went “out” of the water…..we respond by saying “No! Remember that Jesus was with John in the VERY SHALLOW Jordan River. When you go into a river from dry land, what direction do you always have to go? Down, because the water is running in some kind of a depression below dry ground. Going down into the water (from which you later go “up”) doesn’t demand that you go completely “under” the water. Many a fly fisherman goes down into the water to fish without ever going “under” the water. Then, when it’s time to leave the water you go from the lower point/depression “up” and finally :”out of the water” and onto dry land. The NT Greek words used in those two accounts not only easily “allow” the kind of understanding that suggests Jesus was immersed. Instead, what the Greek describes is movement from one place to another, and nothing more than that; and that , linguistically, is the preferable interpretation/understanding.